Ill-gotten gains...(coin find)

As some of you know I go through many $25.00 boxes of cents from the bank and pull out pre-1982 copper cents, wheaties, foriegn coins, and anything interesting. Then I go back to my bank which has a free coin counter machine in the lobby and cash the rest in. This afternoon I took the left overs from a box to the bank, what I would estimate to be about $19.00 in pennies, and dumped them into the machine. It counted them and spit out a ticket for $4.69. I went to the teller and told her something was wrong, and she came over and opened the machine to check it out. She reached into the coin reject tube and cleared a jam, and a bunch of coins fell out, of all denominations. I knew mine were only pennies, but she scooped them all up and put them into the bucket I brought with me. I try to be an honest person, and so I started thinking about what I should do. My coins were mixed in with this batch. There was no way to return them to the rightful owner, as the machine does not record who used it, the tellers do not take your name or id when they cash the ticket for you, and there were no other customers using the machine in the bank, I checked the line, no one was holding a ticket from the machine and no one had been using it when I came in. This is a huge branch bank, the biggest in my area, and I seriously doubt the bank would have been able to locate the person who put the coins in, if they even cared to try, which I also doubt. I could either just accept this windfall, or let the bank keep it. I chose to accept it. I admit I am feeling some guilt about that now.


Anyway, the total balance came out to $38 and change. I guess what I brought in was about $19.00 or so. After the machine finished counting, it spit the coins and tokens pictured above into the reject slot. There was also a Canadian quarter which I already threw into my Canadian coin bucket. Like I said, I am feeling guilty about this now, but am not sure what I should have done.


.

 

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I suppose the "over the top" thing to do is ask the bank to let you put up a sign on the machine asking the person who didn't get credit for what they put in the machine to contact you. If someone claims them without knowing that they included Euros and at least one replica, you would know it's the wrong person

However, the bank probably wouldn't allow it, so just enjoy.

 

The bank's not out any money....they get to keep the coins! So it's either you keep the money or give it to the bank who doesn't really deserve or need it. Seems the same to me as finding a $10 bill oon the sidewalk. If nobody immediately around claims it, I wouldn't feel guilty about not trying further to find the owner.

 

It is just a payback for all the dirty, defaced, green,foriegn,short coins in the rolls you search. Enjoy

 

I am honest to a fault. That said, you deserve those coins. They probably don't want them anyway. It complicates their lives. :high5:

 

I am in agreement with all of the above :smile also If you had tryed to say anything at the time It would have proberly gone something like this LOL

YOU 'They are not my coins, I didn't jam the machine' TELLER 'Of course not Sir, I woudnt dream of accusing you' YOU 'Honestly they are not mine' TELLER (Smirking) 'Then I had best just take them away and Sir dont forget if you have any difficulty next time' LOL

De Orc :kewl:

 

You need not feel any guilt. You did nothing wrong. This isn't even as bad as all the stuff I pull from the CoinStar return slots.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. There really isn't any way you could have corrected the problem. If you pressed the bank employees to do something, it would have just caused them additional procedural problems. If you could get the bank employees to tell you the truth, you did them a favor by taking the coins. The total amount is too small for them to spend a lot of time on.

 

Ha! I do that to. I never use the CoinStar machines because I don't want to pay the 9% (or whatever) fee they charge when my bank has a free coin counting machine. My local grocery stores all have CoinStars though, and whenever I pass them I check the return slots and the floor around the machine. I have found many tokens, foriegn coins, damaged US coins, etc. I happily add those to my collection.

Thank you all for the replies. I agree with you all, and will stop feeling bad about this right now! :thumb:

Off topic: I was looking at the bi-metallic Euros pictured in the first post...I wonder if making dollar coins like that in the US would help with the people who say that they confuse dollar coins with quarters? Of course, the first thing they would have to do is to stop printing one dollar bills. I sort of like the bi-metallic look.

 

last time i went to deposit some $1 coins at the bank, i brought them in - in a bag, and they told me that i needed to roll them up. so the teller gave me some paper rolls for me to put them in, and just stood there while i was rolling them up for her.

this was in a Bank of America bank.


so now i just dump all my coins in a coin star machine, for the convenience. i don't have the time to count up and roll all my coins by myself. although the 9 ~ 10% fee is kind of ridiculous.

 

Nice find... I'd say keep it... Unless you knew for sure whos it was....

Also, on the coin start machine... I don't use them because of the cost...

I have some of those platic tubes that you just funnel your change into and it hold the eact amount for the roll, the excess will slide out...

Then, everynight I empty my change if I have any out of my pockets into my coin Jars... I have One for Cents, 5Cents, 10Cents, 25Cents and another for Misc coins tilll I decide what to do with them....

Then every few weeks or months depending on acumulation, after looking thought the coins for anything interesting, I get out the rolls, the rolls slide into the tubes and presto.....


It takes about a half hour a month at most...

 

Hi Vision,

If you live anywhere in the North East, check around for a Commerce Bank. They have CoinStar like machines that you can use for free, even if you don't have an account there.

I am not sure if any banks in other parts of the country offer this service but if you cash in a lot of coins it might be worth while to get the phone book out and call around. 9% adds up quick if you go through a lot of coins.


:thumb:

 

I wanna know what's up with the rims on that quarter on the bottom left.It looks like an error coin or maybe it's just the lighting.Check it out.
If it's worth a zillion dollars,THEN you can feel guilty........LOL

 

***k it, there really are more important things in life.

 

sorry but just noticed
"I go through many $25.00 boxes of cents from the bank and pull out pre-1982 copper cents"
Why?

 

Ok, if your feeling THAT guilty. Send them to me. : ) Actually I agree with the above, if you find a $10 bill, do you stand and ask everyone who walks by if it belongs to them. Whoever was at that machine is long gone and probably dont have a clue they were shorted a few bucks. If the truth be known I bet you have been shorted a few times without knowing.

 

:secret: I do it too... and I enjoy it. I work hard all week.. and on my days off, I stop and pick up a $25.00 box of cents.. I get all kinds of odd things in those boxes...I have found 3 yellow/gold cents, by the way, I found out there called Yellow Jackets. I find lots of error coins, and I luv the wheaties, & foriegn coins, I find lots of interesting stuff..(lots of bus tokens) 80 miles to a bus from my house.. grins
Don't get me wrong, I do other things.. go to the gym, walk the fields and look for arrow heads, go out and dance, and 9 grandkids to hide from..lol
and when I have a free minute.. I get a diet coke, turn on the tube and set and look through a box of coins..
we just have one coin star machine never have found anything in it :kewl:
:hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail:

 

I keep all my pre-1982 cents as well. Last I heard they were worth 1.5 cents each in copper. One day those worthless cents will really add up!

I'd keep the coins you found. Finders keepers. I check the CoinStar machines whever I go. Never found anything but my dad found (on his first try) a Euro I believe is from France.

 

Because I am a crazy person.


:goofer:

 

Why not? :goofer:

A lot of us pick through pocket change, rolls and box searching. It’s really good for young collectors and those looking to expand or test there knowledge of errors or varieties.